Montreal Canadiens

Woah. Benoît who? How did he get drafted so high?
So many questions, so little time.
http://rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/286780.html
*UPDATE: Sergei Kostitsyn has just been called up.
Update by Prax: TSN's Bob Mackenzie just reported on twitter that Laraque was given 5 games. Sounds about right to me to be honest. More on the trade and Laraque in my game blog tomorrow.

Anyone who is a Habs fan (a sane one anyway) will tell you that Big Georges Laraque isn't a bad guy. He's always willing to talk to the media, he's a big joker amongst teammates, he has a huge heart when it comes to charity and he's arguably one of the most gentlemanly players in the league.
Thing is, he wasn't signed to be a nice guy. He was signed to be a tough guy, that protects his teammates, aggravates the opposition and provides energy for the 5 to 8 minutes he's going to be on the ice. But in 43 games he's played (out of a possible 195 that he could have played) since he signed a 3 year, $4.5 million deal with the Canadiens in the summer of 2008, he's been almost everything exc...

We're all aware of Bob Gainey's policy of not negotiating contracts during the season.
It's a weird concept that isn't embraced by many general managers around the league, simply because in the new salary-cap NHL, it is extremely important to lock up the core players of your team to long-term extensions as soon as it is financially possible.
Let's take a look at the Habs' potential free agents for the summer of 2010:
Tomas Plekanec (UFA)
Glen Metropolit (UFA)
Paul Mara (UFA)
Marc-André Bergeron (UFA)
Jay Leach (UFA)
Carey Price (RFA)
Jaroslav Halak (RFA)
Tom Pyatt (RFA)
Guillaume Latendresse (RFA)
Maxim Lapierre (RFA)
Gregory Stewart (RFA)
Matt D'Agostini (RFA)
Ky...

It seems like every game I post a preview for a Habs game, I'm using clichés such as ''moment of truth'', ''desperation'', ''sense of urgency'', ''panic button''... you name it. And every time, it's almost as if the Canadiens respond to said clichés and somehow come out with a victory, or at least a strong performance.
And just like clockwork, on Tuesday night, the ''Cardiac Habs'' somehow managed to get passed the ''Cardiac Canes'' in a 3-2 shootout victory. By no means was it a convincing victory, and truth be told, if I were to sum up that game in one word, it would probably be luck.
While the performances of Carey Price, as well as the line of Plekanec - Pacioretty - Kostitsy...

Christopher Higgins
The American forward is having a hard time in the Big Apple. In fact, Higgins only has five points this year, and only deux goals. Defensively, Higgins' strength, is having difficulties adjusting to John Tortorella's style of play posting a plus/minus differential of -5. Tortorella is mainly using him on the third line as a forechecker. His might run out of patience towards Higgins if the latter doesn't adjust quickly and start producing on a Rangers' team lacing depth offensively after Gaborik, Prospal and Kotalik.
Saku Koivu
Saku Koivu, now playing for the Anaheim Ducks, is clearly the second line centre behind Ryan Getzlaf. Playing mostly with Selanne and Lupu...

The Montreal Canadiens didn't have much time to celebrate their squeaker of a victory against the Carolina Hurricanes. News out of the organization today is that highly paid right winger, Brian Gionta, and one of Bob Gainey's major acquisitions this past offseason, is out indefinitely with a broken foot.
There is no word yet on how long Gionta will be sidelined for, but one has to expect 4 to 6 weeks to be an appropriate timeline, but it all depends on which bone in his foot was broken. Ilya Kovalchuk's broken bone was in a non-weight bearing bone, and he was able to come back fairly quickly. On the other hand, Daniel Sedin has already missed close to six weeks, and while he is probab...

The question of the day for Montreal Canadiens fans: Is it time to panic?
Most experts say that the 20 game mark is around the time when teams start to evaluate themselves, their performances to start the season, and where they see themselves going forward. The Montreal Canadiens reached that 20 game mark on Saturday night in Nashville, and needless to say, they reached it with an exclamation point.
In the 2-0 shutout, they let Carey Price face 55 shots (Price tied a franchise record with 53 saves), respondinng only with 20, half of which came in the 3rd period. The team mailed it in early in the first (as evidenced by the 24 shots they let up), and took some stupid penalties in th...

Something a little different from my normal game previews to pass the time on this Monday...
And while we could talk about this team's deficiencies that lead to the embarrassing 2-0 loss to the Nashville Predators that we witnessed Saturday night, the fans could probably use a distraction of sorts. While I'll have more on that tomorrow, it may be time to start wondering about what this team can do and about what Bob Gainey can do to make the team better. Clearly, they're having issues with scoring, and clearly, they're having issues defensively. Granted, they're excused to some degree because of all their injuries, but there's a limit to how many excuses you can make for this team. Ev...

It seems as though Jacques Martin has finally had enough of struggling forward Guillaume Latendresse, as the young French Canadian player will be watching tonight's game against the Nashville Predators from the Pressbox.
To say that the French Canadian player has underperformed this season is an understatement, as Latendresse has put up but 2 goals and 1 assist in 19 games, with a -4 rating. He's only seen an average of 12 minutes a game this year, and while no one can really expect too much of him playing minimal minutes mostly on a 3rd line, two goals from the player many have categorized as a power forward and a goalscorer, well it simply isn't enough. On pace for a ridiculously lo...

The Canadiens roll into Glendale, Arizona tonight for a late game against the surprising Phoenix Coyotes. Habs fans are going to have to stay up a little late in order to watch the Canadiens in action tonight, and while many of us are probably going to be tired, let's hope the Canadiens are a little more lively than their fanbase is going to be when they hit the ice tonight, at 9PM.

We could go on and on about the Habs' problems on and off the ice. And let's face it, the problems are many, and one blog probably isn't enough to name them all. The solution, however, isn't as complex. If the Canadiens want to leave Arizona winners tonight, they're...